The Crash
by afictionwarrior
Summary: Set between Rory leaving the psychic's apartment, and Stephen saving her butt... Again. Mild language.


The three Shades watched as Rory Deveaux walked proudly down the street. She reached the corner, and turned out of sight.

Stephen flexed his hand before pulling it into a tight fist. He was angry, so angry. Furious. What made it all worse was that he was furious with Rory. A knot tied itself and settled in his stomach. He tried to swallow down the pressure in his throat. She couldn't just give everything up. He wouldn't let her. He let himself lose control for only a fraction of a second, the side of his fist coming into contact with the car door.

"Does somebody want to tell me what the fuck just happened?" Callum burst out.

"Stephen?" Boo said bitingly.

He raised his eyes to look at her behind his glasses. His lips parted and his eternally-furrowed eyebrows came up in realization. "You know."

"Of course I know. She told me."

"That's pretty important information to keep to yourself!" He was still too angry at Rory. Part of him felt bad. He wasn't really upset with Boo, not even with Rory, in fact, but the situation was all too familiar to him, and he was taking it out on them. That wasn't right.

"I'm not the only one keeping secrets here, Stephen," Boo snapped back. That shut him up. He even took a step back at all the contempt he heard in her voice. "Rory wanted to tell her yourself, and I agreed that it would probably be better if she did. You're the one that didn't tell us we were going to be shut down until you knew we weren't going to be. You're the one that's been keeping things from us, and you need to stop right now. Maybe you're in charge, but _we're a team_."

Even Callum was shocked. It took a moment for him to compose himself, but he immediately picked up the chance to agree with Boo. "She's right. You have to start trusting us, mate," he said, shrugging his broad shoulders. He paused, thinking something over, and added, "How about with what the fuck just happened? What does Boo know? Why's Ror all upset?"

Stephen sighed, as he did whenever he was giving in. "Rory's been expelled. She ran away last night. We just had a fight." He shut his eyes tight, pushed his glasses up, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He took off the spectacles and cleaned them off on his shirt.

"Why'd you fight?"

"She was refusing to cooperate. She kept insisting on joining."

"Joining?" Callum asked, perking up.

"I told her she couldn't," said Stephen bluntly.

"You what?" Both Boo and Callum choked out.

"She's too young. She's still in school. Besides, Rory... it just wouldn't be good for her. She doesn't need this kind of life."

"Maybe not," Boo conceded, "but she chose this life the minute she walked into that bathroom. You chose it for her when you checked on her in Bristol, when you told Thorpe what she was. We need her."

It was too much for Stephen to take in. He knew this. Of course he did. He'd tossed this information in his head practically since Boo was injured, the moment he realized how willing she was to help. He sighed again, and opened the driver's door. The other two followed his lead, and hopped into the car. "I think she's in trouble," he confessed.

"Why's that?" Boo sounded panicky.

"Besides us, and her friends at school, who does she know in London?" Silence. "She said she was with a friend last night. I don't trust whoever these people are." Stephen was not going to just let things happen as he once had before. He would do something about this.

"How're we going to find her, though?" Boo asked. Panicking, definitely panicking.

"Use your phone to track mine." Stephen was already driving, following what he figured was Rory's general path.

"How's that going to help?" Callum inquired from the back seat.

"I knew she wouldn't go back to school. My phone's in her coat. She doesn't realize, and I doubt she's noticed."

"This is my fault," Callum said. "I'm the one who told her she should join." Stephen, honestly, didn't even care that much, because Callum and Boo had been right. Rory should join.

"Here." Boo rattled off directions, and Stephen followed them quickly. "They're on the move."

"Alright, where are they headed?"

It took her a moment, but Boo told him the closest street. Nobody was coming yet. Stephen was calculating. He could not and would not risk Boo's and Callum's safety. He was already risking his own, and Rory's. "Get out of the car, you two," he said numbly.

"What?"

"Stephen," Boo started. "What-?"

"Just get out," he said again. "There's a crowbar in the trunk. Get it out. Use it if you have to, but get out of the car. Now. You'll understand in a moment, just listen to me, please."

Callum nodded and stepped out, walking right to the trunk, but Boo took a moment to stare at Stephen. "Boo," he started, but was shocked into silence when she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He didn't have time to ask what she did that for before she hopped out of the car and joined Callum. Stephen could see the car coming now, and hoped that they didn't notice him. The trunk slammed shut. He looked back and Boo confirmed that Rory was practically on top of them now. He breathed in deeply, in through his nose, and back out through his mouth. His grip on the steering wheel tightened. In the back of his mind, he realized he was risking everything for Rory Deveaux. He refused to give himself enough time to dwell on it. The moment had come. Stephen slammed his foot down on the gas.

The car shot out into the intersection. Stephen was thrown to the right as the collision occured. He registered dimly a searing pain in his head that quickly began to spread through the rest of him. He shook off the pain, and opened the door. The first thing he noticed was Rory in the back seat, her face bruised and tear-stained. She did not look at all as determined as she had half an hour ago. The second thing he noticed was the driver, who smiled at him as if their predicament was highly amusing. He approached the car, a hatred burning in him for whoever these people were.

"Hello, Officer," the driver said, with a voice that sounded to Stephen like poisoned honey. "You've ruined my car."

Stephen took a breath. "I'd like Rory to get out."


End file.
